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Georgia woman sues Tyra Banks for putting her daughter on a 'sex addict' show

October 18, 2010 | 1:24
pm

When a teenage girl goes missing, is Tyra Banks to blame? That's what a Georgia mother claims in a $3-million lawsuit filed Oct. 8 against Banks, Warner Bros. Entertainment and the executive producers of Banks' now-defunct "Tyra Banks Show."

Beverly McClendon alleges that last year Banks arranged for her 15-year-old daughter, Jewel Ciera McClendon, to appear on Banks' talk show, without Beverly's consent. The lawsuit states that after Jewel responded to a request for "sex addicts" on the show's website, a spokesperson called the girl on her cellphone and arranged to pick her up in a limo from her Atlanta home, fly her to New York and put her up in a hotel.

Beverly says that, because she didn't know where her daughter was, she filed a missing persons report only to end up seeing Jewel on television.

On the show, Jewel discussed losing her virginity at age 9, having sex with more than 20 men, getting pregnant three times and fearing that she might have herpes. But the lawsuit says that Jewel has never been diagnosed as a sex addict, and Beverly claims her daughter suffered damages because the 2009 show "was undoubtedly watched by sexual deviants, perverts and pedophiles." She is seeking $1 million in compensatory damages and $2 million in punitive damages.

Warner Bros. Television Group spokesman Scott Rowe told ABC News on Sunday that the company had no comment. Banks' spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment today.